ARTICLES ABOUT BACKUPS BY DATE - PAGE 4

Northern Illinois' next quarterback will have tough acts to follow. Heisman Trophy finalist Jordan Lynch more than adequately succeeded Chandler Harnish, who had been Mid-American Conference MVP before being drafted by the Colts. The Huskies signed two quarterbacks Wednesday - Landon Root from Wichita, Kan., and Ryan Graham from Wheaton Warrenville South - to compete with incumbent backup Matt McIntosh, who appeared in five games last season. "The expectations of our quarterback and the expectations of our program … we expect to be in the mix for the MAC championship every year," said coach Rod Carey, who declared the position "wide open.

The Sports Xchange Backup QB Wittek to transfer from USC USC backup quarterback Max Wittek plans to transfer to another school, the Los Angeles Times reported. Wittek, who will graduate at the end of the semester, informed new USC coach Steve Sarkisian of his decision Wednesday. Wittek would be able to play immediately because of an NCAA rule that allows graduates to transfer without losing a year of eligibility. The fourth-year junior has two seasons of eligibility remaining.

Antti Raanta rattles off the names in rapid-fire succession: Petri Vehanen, Mika Noronen, Miika Wiikman and Mikael Tellqvist. Oh, and Corey Crawford. That last one might be more familiar than the others. They are the starting goaltenders under whom Raanta has served as a backup in recent years, with Crawford the latest for the Blackhawks. The others were starters in Finland, where Raanta played for five seasons before signing with the Hawks as a free agent during the summer.

Guy walks into a bar. Plays the piano. He's good. But he's better next time, when he brings along a bassist and a drummer. At least that's what they say. Wine grapes are the same way. Sometimes, as a wine, they taste great by themselves. Quite often, though, they taste better when part of a group. (We call them blends.) Mourvedre is the Bill Evans of red wine grapes. In its native Spain (where it is known by its Iberian name of monastrell), it solos beautifully in red wines from places such as Yecla and Jumilla along the country's southeast coast.

Chris Christie is a guy you want to like, sometimes despite himself. He's just made that a lot harder to do. Take him at his word that he knew nothing about the arrogant abuse of government power to bully a political opponent, creating a public safety risk and inconveniencing thousands of people. Take him at his word on that, and you still have this: He created an environment in which some of his most trusted people thought that was a slick trick. They reveled in it. Until they got caught.

By Tom Polansek CHICAGO, Jan 6 (Reuters) - CME Group Inc, the world's largest futures exchange operator, said on Monday it moved its primary backup data center to New York from Chicago last month to make its backup facilities more secure and reliable. CME, owner of the Chicago Board of Trade and New York Mercantile Exchange, moved the backup center to space in the building that houses the Nymex trading floor in lower Manhattan, Securities and Exchange Commission documents show.

About 10:30 a.m. Friday, give or take a straggler, the Blackhawks will reconvene on the ice after a three-day Christmas break. At some point on some day in the near future, Corey Crawford will reconvene with the rest of them, following his extended injury layoff. Nothing has changed: Crawford presumably will be the No. 1 goaltender upon his reintroduction to active duty. And nothing has changed: The Hawks roll along because they remained determined to play the same way in front of first-year backup Antti Raanta, who then delivered performances suitable to a top-flight starter.

NASHVILLE, Tenn. - Allowing a goal on the first shot he faced wasn't how Kent Simpson envisioned his NHL debut. But the backup goaltender is considering Joffrey Lupul 's score on a wrist shot from the right circle just 28 seconds after relieving Antti Raanta during the Maple Leafs' 7-3 pasting of the Blackhawks on Saturday night as a learning experience and he anticipates being much more at ease in his next appearance - whenever that...

Jason Campbell knew he would be a backup quarterback when he signed with the Bears in March 2012. He was coming off on an injury-plagued season with the Raiders and couldn't be picky about his situation. But after serving his time behind Jay Cutler, he was determined to find an opportunity to play. He earned that with the Browns this season and has boosted their offense ahead of Sunday's game against his former team. "From an experience standpoint, he has been great," Browns coach Rob Chudzinski said on a teleconference Wednesday.